The Seven Year War
by BillieJamesPotter
Summary: For seven years James Potter has been trying to win over Lily Evans, and for seven years Lily has fought him off. However, when James finds himself a girlfriend, Lily isn't ready for the fight to be over. As allies switch sides and enemies are revealed, can James get his hands off his girlfriend to realize Lily's change of heart?
1. Letters Saved

The Seven Year War could have all been avoided, had certain paths wouldn't have been passed on September 1, coincidentally the same day that James Potter, Sirius Black, Lily Evans and Severus Snape started school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

You see, if Thomas Smith would have made room for Sirius Black in his compartment on their first train ride, Sirius would have never become best friends with James Potter. And if James Potter would have never been friends with Sirius, he would have been quite lonely. And if James had been lonely, Lily Evans would have felt sorry for him. And if Lily had felt sorry for him, Lily and Severus Snape would have broken up their relationship before he could actually do her any harm.

So many heart breaks and fights due to one train ride.

The war all started when James Potter noticed the two other people in his train compartment, and called Snape names and teased Lily. It was just the start of a nasty relationship. Throughout their first year at Hogwarts, James and his right hand man Sirius managed to obtain fifteen detentions, destroy ten school owned objects and pulled approximately fifty-two pranks, and that only counted the ones performed on Lily Evans. James also managed to ask the poor girl out at least twice as many times as he pulled pranks on her.

The hatred Lily Evans had for the spectacled, messy haired boy wasn't a secret, and a Potter vs Evans fight was a common sight. Now, the Seven Year War isn't a war that you can read about in history books, but some of the battles in it were some of the most ferocious fights ever. Over the years, Lily and James managed to find themselves in many duels, some against each other and some against others that played major roles in the war (ah-hem Snape). While James just enjoyed riling the object of his affections up, Lily was most the times out for blood, or at least a detention heading his way.

But no matter how much these two people fought, the ending was unavoidable. And although the war was long and hard, some of its productions were wondrous and great. But like Ollivander said, great things can be terrible as well as good. So even though terrible things happened because of the war, they soon became key events in the undoing of the most feared wizard of all time.

Year One- Alliances were made

Year Two- Minor battles were fought

Year Three- Minor battles were fought

Year Four- Slightly more serious battles were fought

Year Five- Some alliances were broken while some were strengthened; major battles were fought

Year Six- Major events including a treaty

Year Seven…..

"James Harold Potter, get your arse up!"

"Thanks Sirius," James Potter grumbled, shoving his glasses to his face so he was able to glance around his room. "What are you doing in here?"

"You're not the only one who lives here," Sirius reminded him, throwing a pair of dirty socks at his best friend's head.

"Yeah, but I'm the only one that lives in this room," James said groggily, sitting up as Sirius began to jump on the end of the bed.

"Not meaning to sound like your mum mate, but you got to pack," Sirius said, glancing around the spacious bedroom and pointing to the pile of clothes on the floor. "We leave for the train station in an hour and you aren't even packed yet."

"I'm going," James sighed, standing up and stretching. "Go downstairs and tell Mum I'll be down in a minute, will you?"

"You got it," Sirius winked, strutting out of the room. "By the way, excited to see your _whor_se today?"

"Shut up," James snapped, throwing the same pair of dirty socks that had just been thrown at him at Sirius.

"Don't yell at me because you have bad taste," he barked, slamming the door behind him.

James sighed and picked up his wand to perform the spell needed to pack things with. Just as he was about to say an incantation, something sitting on his windowsill caught his eye. Getting closer, he saw it was a letter addressed to him in rather familiar handwriting. Trying not to roll his eyes, he opened it and read its content.

Dear James,

Missed you so much! Can't wait to see you on the train. Maybe we can find a secluded compartment somewhere and….catch up.

Vanessa

James groaned before throwing the note in the trash. But as he packed up his trunk he made sure to add a stack of letters written by a very different person, which he tended to reread very often.

Potter,

I'd really appreciate it if you restrained yourself from contacting me. It's the holidays for goodness sake.

Evans

Potter,

No means no, and 'you're a jerk' means you're a jerk. So when I say No you're a jerk, that means No I don't want to go out with you and you're a jerk

Evans

Potter,

I just found out the news of you being Head Boy. Sorry to disappoint you, but I will not be screaming at you for Confounding Dumbledore or anything when we see each other on the train (I hope we don't see each other before then). Fortunately for you, I've gotten all my anger out of my system and I promise to cooperate this next year as Heads if you promise to do the same.

Thank You,

Lily Evans

James laughed as he remembered when he first found out he was Head Boy. They had been at the dinner table, and he, Sirius and his father were having a belching contest as his mother half-heartedly chastised them for acting like barbarians when the letter came. Sirius nearly busted a gut laughing about it, but his mother and father had been very proud (and rather shocked).

Yep, Lily's letters were definitely more interesting than Vanessa's. James guessed that was because James found Lily herself much more interesting than Vanessa, but that wasn't James's fault. But what was his fault was using Vanessa for making Lily jealous and other more physical things. But he couldn't help it; it had been seven long years he had been caught up with Lily Evans, and he needed something to refresh his mind and Vanessa was more than willing. After he thought about it though, so were most the girls at Hogwarts. Except for Lily….

"James Potter you better be on your way down here!" Amelia Potter called out from down stairs in the kitchen. Her voice echoed throughout the entire mansion. "If you leave on an empty stomach, that's your fault!"

"Coming Mum!" he yelled back, hastily performing the spell and zipping his trunk shut. Giving himself a satisfied nod, he made his way out of his room with his trunk where he would not be returning to until the holidays.


	2. Him or Her

**Super long chapter, hope you guys like it! Reviews are appreciated!**

Pinning her new Head Girl badge to her jacket, Lily Evans took one last look at herself in her bathroom mirror before she left for the train station. Her brilliant emerald eyes stared back at her with their intense and analytical gaze. The red locks that hung down to her mid-back were slightly curled, and she had bobby pins in the front to hold her hair back from her face. Sighing, she picked up her bag before turning off the light and exiting the bathroom.

"Lily, are you all ready honey?" Daffy Evans asked her youngest daughter as her husband Larry shoved Lily's trunk in the back of their car.

"Yes," Lily nodded, butterflies in her stomach as she took one last look up at her house.

"I guess this is it, huh?" Larry said, opening the door for Lily. "You're last trip to Hogwarts. Ever."

"Larry," Daffy warned, shaking her head as the family piled into the car. "Sorry Lil, you should know by now your father is quite insensitive."

"I am not," Larry shot back defensively, turning around to wink at Lily as he drove down the street. "Fine, maybe I am. Just a little, but I don't mean it."

"Of course you don't," Daffy chuckled. "Do you remember that one time when that boy came over to pick on Tuney and you-." Daffy broke off midsentence, glancing warily back at Lily. "Sorry, now I'm the one being insensitive."

"No, it's fine," Lily sighed. "I knew that Petunia wasn't going to come to say good-bye. I'm used to her attitude towards me."

"You shouldn't be dear," Daffy said. "I know that she's my daughter, but she has no excuse for treating you like that."

Lily smiled weakly before gazing out the window. She had already decided that morning that she wasn't going to let Petunia's absence from her Muggle life and Potter's presence in her magical one keep her from having a good last year. As they road, she thought more and more about Potter; about how immature he was, how annoying he was and how frustrating it was going to be with him as Head Boy.

"We're here," Larry announced, parking in a spot. "Would you like us to walk you in? I know you're technically an adult now, and you're independent now-."

"You're coming in Daddy," Lily smiled.

It seemed like everyone in their brother was in the train station that day. Lily recognized many Hogwarts students, but also a lot of Muggles going about their daily business. Her father waved to some of his coworkers as they made their way to Platform 9 ¾.

"Good-bye sweetheart," Daffy smiled, hugging her daughter good-bye. "I'll see you later."

"Bye honey," Larry said, kissing her on her head. "Be good. Do your best, and don't let that Potter boy bother you too much."

"I won't-," she said, but her sentence was cut off from a loud yell from behind her.

"EVANS!"

She felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her as she screamed, attracting attention from onlookers.

"Sirius Black get off of me!"

"Nice to see you too," he said sarcastically, winking at her as he let go. "You must be Mr. and Mrs. Evans; I'm Sirius Black and this here is my good friend James Potter, your future son-in-law."

"Shut up Sirius," Lily heard someone mumble in her ear. Spinning around, she came face to face with none other than James Potter.

"Potter," Lily nodded stiffly. He gave her a small smile before nervously ruffling up his hair. Rolling her eyes, she turned back to her parents.

"Lily, aren't you going to introduce us?" Daffy grinned mischievously. Lily glared at her before indicating to Sirius and James.

"This is Sirius Black," she said.

"Pleasure to meet you ma'am," Sirius smiled, shaking her hand as well as Larry's. "I sure know where Lily got her gorgeous looks."

"And I'm James Potter," James said nervously, extending his hand toward them. Daffy accepted it warmly while Larry looked him up and down with scrutiny.

"Make sure you don't give my little girl here too rough a time," Larry said, his voice casual but had a hint of threatening.

"I won't sir," James said, glancing down at Lily who was shaking her head.

"And I don't mind if she has a boyfriend, but remember just because I'm a Muggle doesn't mean I can't hunt you down and-."

"See you Daddy!" Lily said loudly, grabbing James and Sirius's arms before shoving them along with her trunk through the brick wall separating her two worlds.

"Wow, your dad's really something," Sirius laughed as the three made their way toward the train.

"How did your holidays go?" James interrupted. The meeting with Lily's parents hadn't exactly been the way he had imagined seeing Lily for the first time since the summer started.

"For the most part, good," Lily replied, but he sensed it was a touchy subject. While weaving in between students, she asked, "So how was yours?"

His heart leapt for joy; Lily Evans just asked him how his holidays went! That meant she cared! But just before he could answer, he heard an all too familiar voice call out his name. "James! James! James I see you, don't hide behind Sirius silly!"

"Vanessa Rodgers?" Lily asked, surprised as the petite brunette linked arms with James. "I didn't know you guys were a thing."

"Surely you didn't think that James would spend his entire life moping after you?" Vanessa sneered, her dark brown eyes seeming to stare Lily down. Lily shivered involuntarily. "He's moved on to bigger and better things-."

"Time to go!" James said rather loudly, just the same way Lily had said it when she had pushed them away from her parents. "See you at the Prefect Meeting Evans!"

"Bye," Lily waved, frowning as Sirius rolled his eyes at his friend and stayed with Lily. "What do you want, Black?"

"I can't stand her," Sirius said, glaring at the retreating couple. "She's so annoying, and twitchy, and bitchy…can I _please_ sit with you guys?"

Lily groaned. "You are so lucky I know what it feels like to have your friend date a horrible person."

"You're a life saver," he grinned. "I'll take your trunk."

Together they made their way across the train until they found her and her friends' usual compartment. As soon as she opened the door, two figures jumped on her.

"Lily, we missed you so much!"

"I haven't seen you since the wedding!"

"Hey Mary, Alice," Lily nodded, laughing as they caught sight of Sirius.

"What are you doing in here?" Mary demanded, crossing her arms over her chest as Sirius watched her with amusement. And Lily knew exactly why; Mary was quite attractive though she continuously denied it. She had long dirty blonde hair, large brown eyes and was about 5' 10". She often complained about her height, but Lily knew that was a feature many of the guys appreciated. "No one invited you."

"Actually, your very beautiful and sympathetic friend did," Sirius said, nodding towards Lily.

The two girls looked at their best friend, thinking she had gone crazy. Lily merely shrugged, taking a seat. Sirius went to sit beside her when Mary and Alice sat down opposite her, glaring at him as if to dare him to try to sit by them. "James has a new girlfriend; Vanessa. Seeing as Mary dated Michael last year and he was completely unbearable, I know what it feels like to be stuck in that predicament. So, he stays."

"You guys could have told me he was that awful!" Mary whaled.

Alice and Lily laughed. "We did!"

"Shut up," Mary said, glaring at her friends.

"So is this all girls talk about?" Sirius demanded, looking at them in disappointment.

"You should know, you're with enough of them," Mary replied snidely.

Sirius just shook his head cockily at her. "Usually when I'm with a girl, we don't have enough time or breath to talk."

"You're a perv."

"Lily, aren't you supposed to be at the Prefect Meeting?" Alice asked suddenly.

"Shoot! Thanks Alice," Lily said, jumping up and darting out of the compartment. She quickly made her way across the train until she finally got to the Prefect Compartment. A lot of the people were already there, including Remus Lupin and Severus Snape. Ignoring the latter, Lily walked over to Remus and questioned him lightly about his summer.

"So you already know about James?" he asked her.

"Yeah, but do you know where he is?" Lily said, checking the clock, annoyed. "Everyone else is here. I knew he'd be terrible."

"Give him time," he smiled. "But the last time I checked he was with Vanessa. You know about that too, right?"

"Yeah. Interesting pair," she commented; she didn't like the knowing look he was giving her. "And what do you mean the 'last time you checked'. Weren't you just with them?"

"No, Peter and I found a different compartment," he said. He hesitated before continuing. "They are far too…touchy."

Lily didn't know why, but her stomach tightened at hearing this. "Well why don't you guys come join Alice, Mary and I after the meeting? Sirius is there too."

"We'll be there."

"Well, I guess I better start the meeting."

Lily ran the meeting by herself for the most part. She had just gone over Prefect patrols, Hogsmead trips and was about to end with the rules of being Prefects when James decided to make his entrance.

Everyone turned to stare at their new Head Boy, whose clothing was a mess and disheveled, and there was clear lip stick marks on his neck.

"Sorry," he mumbled, taking a seat in the back.

Everyone turned to gaze at Lily, expecting her to blow up on him like she usually would. But on the contrary, she completely ignored him and finished up the meeting. As soon as everyone left, though, she turned to him.

"Evans, I am so sorry-."

"Save it," she said, her voice deadly calm. "I know you have a new toy, and I know you want to play with it. But this is a serious job that for some reason you were honored with. And I will not let you jeopardize my reputation because you want to go off with Vanessa. All I ask of you this year is to show up on time and appropriate for meetings, and I will do everything from there. Got that?"

He simply nodded, dumbfounded.

"Good. I'll ask Remus if he can to patrols with me tonight seeing as you probably will want to finish whatever you left off on the train. Good-bye."

And she turned on her heel, marching out of the compartment.

She saw James only one more time that train ride. Remus and Peter had come into their compartment, and they were currently all trying out the new beans of What-Animal-Makes-This-Noise candy.

Remus, Peter and Alice were taking turns picking the beans for each other while Sirius, Mary and Lily were picking ones for themselves. Mary was currently trying to shove one into Lily's mouth while Sirius had his arms around her to hold her still when the door opened to reveal James and Vanessa.

Everyone froze when they saw them, especially Sirius. After one frightening look from James, he quickly let go of Lily and stuck his hands under his legs.

"I see you guys are all having fun without us," James said in a quiet voice. "So I guess I'll just see you later."

Just before he closed the door, Sirius stood up. "It's fine if _you_ stay."

They just looked at each other for a second, not saying another word. James sneaked a glance at Lily before closing the door behind him.

"Git," Sirius huffed before sitting back down. "Now Lils, open up…"

"Since when did I become Lils?" Lily laughed. She had found that maybe Sirius wasn't half bad.

"Since James became Potter."


	3. New Friend

The seating arrangements at the Feast were much different than they had been the years previous. Usually Lily, Mary and Alice would sit with Frank Longbottom, Alice's long-time boyfriend as close to the teachers as possible to scare off the Maurderers. However, due to James's…obsession with Lily, they would generally sit right next to them. James and Sirius all the while would never leave each other's sides.

But this year was a lot different. As always, the girls were seated at the far end of the table but without Frank because he had graduated the year before. But this time they were joined by Remus, Peter and none other than Sirius Black, who for once in his life didn't have James Potter by his side. The person mentioned was currently sitting down the table, cuddling with Vanessa, who was currently receiving glares from other girls.

"Welcome," Dumbledore said warmly. Lily watched with disgust as James and Vanessa pulled away and gave each other a sickeningly sweet look. "To another year at Hogwarts. I see some very familiar faces, some new faces and some changed faces." It seemed like he looked directly as James when he said this. "First, I would like to go through the general welcome speech. The Forbidden Forest is called the Forbidden Forest for a reason, and no Zonkos products are allowed in the castle." Again, he seemed to look at James as well as Sirius when he said this. "Now onto more serious matters." Lily rolled her eyes as Sirius snorted, nudging him with her arm. A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned to see James glaring over at Sirius. Sirius gave him a hard look before smiling down at Lily. Squirming uncomfortably, Lily tuned in back to the Headmaster's speech.

"As most of you are aware of," Dumbledore said in a much more somber tone. "There is a war going on outside of these walls. I am aware that some of you are more…clued in on the war than others." Many glances were given to the Slytherin table. "I would just like to say that war is not a game. It kills people for horrible, selfish reasons and I urge you to resist participating, especially at you ages. But remember that even in the times of the most hate and weakness, love and strength are not far away. Now you may feast!"

"Pass me the mashed potatoes, will you?" Sirius said immediately, ignoring what he had just said and reaching across Lily.

"You're so charming," Lily giggled as he accidently spilled the potatoes all over his robes.

"Tell that to McDonald," he grumbled as Mary let out a loud belch.

Peter started to laugh squeakily, causing everyone else to join in.

"Who would have thought I'd be sitting here and not being completely annoyed by Sirius Black's presence," Lily laughed.

"Who would have thought I'd rather hang out with Lily than Potter," he said, his smile a little forced but ignored her sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled as Mary, Remus, Peter and Alice started up another conversation. "I guess it's kind of my fault that he's with her."

"How is it your fault?" he demanded, looking at her curiously. In the seven years he had known her, Sirius had never heard Lily Evans apologize.

"If I would have just given him a chance ever, he probably wouldn't be going out with her."

"As if you would have ever even considered leading him on," Sirius barked. "But honestly Lily, even if he isn't my friend anymore, the kid's head over heels for you."

"First of all, you guys are just in a fight," Lily said sternly. "Second of all, he has a girlfriend. I don't know if it's just me, but that doesn't prove undying love for another person."

"He was just sick of getting rejected by you all the time," Sirius shrugged, then looked over at her shyly. "Besides, Vanessa was kind of my fault."

"How was she your fault?" she said in a much harsher tone than she had meant.

"I told him to try going out with someone else for a change," he mumbled, blushing. "I'm sorry Lily, but he was so sad all the time over you that I told him that trying it with another girl wouldn't be all that bad. We finally convinced him to go out with her when we said it might make you jealous."

She responded a moment later, after she composed herself. "Why are you sorry? Now I have him off my back."

He nodded and turned to Peter but continued to watch her suspiciously throughout the meal. Afterwards, Lily had to head off to find James so they could be introduced to their Head Dorms.

"I can't believe I have to live with Potter," Lily groaned as Sirius walked her up to McGonagall's office.

"He's not that bad," he laughed. "It's Vanessa who's the annoying one."

"Nice to see you too Black," someone said behind them. They both jumped about a mile in the air, during which Sirius grabbed Lily and pulled her in front of him, hiding behind her.

"And you're in Gryffindor because…." James trailed off, glaring at his ex best friend who was currently still cowering behind his ex love interest.

"Sorry Potter," Sirius snapped, coming out from behind the red head. "I can face any monster, but that one's too ugly. Is she a basilisk or something, because I'm usually scared stiff on sight?"

"When you see me isn't the only time your 'stiff'," Vanessa said, hanging on James's arm. "Is Lily one of the other girls now?"

"How would you know about what girls I get with?" he demanded. Lily noticed James did nothing to stand between his girlfriend and Sirius. "You'd be lucky to get to breathe the same air as me."

"Knock it off," Lily said, stepping between them. "Potter and I have to share a dorm this year-."

"Don't remind me," Vanessa grumbled.

"-and it's going to be hard enough without you two fighting all the time."

"Then maybe he just shouldn't be around."

If Lily hadn't seen James's lips move she wouldn't have believed he had said anything.

Both the girls watched warily as Sirius's back stiffened, his facial features freezing into a cold glare.

"Fine," Sirius said icily. "I won't even bother. Have fun with your little whore; I know you two have a lot in common." He turned to Lily, who was watching on with tears in her eyes. "Tell me if this wanker tries to pull anything on you, and I'll take care of it. If you need anything, you know where my dorm is."

And with that Sirius Black turned his back on James Potter, just like James had done earlier that day.

"Will you even try to make up with him?" Lily sighed as her and James settled down into their new dorms. He had finally returned after walking Vanessa back to her room, taking about half-an-hour longer than anyone else would have.

"Why do you care?" he snapped, sinking into one of the lounge chairs in their common area.

"Because no matter how hard I try not to I actually give a smallest care about you and Sirius's happiness."

"Well you didn't give a damn before," he growled, standing up as she walked toward his chair. "After seven years of rejecting me, telling me you hate me and some other pretty nasty shit I find it hard to believe it's me you want happy," he spat.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she said coolly, crossing her arms moodily over her chest.

"I saw how you and Sirius acted on the train and at dinner," he glared.

"Ha!" she laughed bitterly. "Honestly, how jealous can you get!"

"I'm over you, I'm with Vanessa!"

"Doesn't mean you still can't get jealous of me! You pined after me all these years, all those feelings can't possibly all be gone over one summer."

"How bitchy and selfish can you get?"

James didn't realize what happened until much later, after he went up to his bed with a swollen cheek. All he remembered was a sharp pain across his cheek and Lily saying something.

"You can call be a bitch all you want. But _never_ call me selfish."

As Lily lay awake that night she thought about the day's events. How odd it had been. When she had woken up that morning she had been at home, hating Black and annoyed at Potter for constantly asking her out. Now she was at her last year of Hogwarts, sharing a dorm with James Potter and hating him with all her might. And now it appeared she was friends with Sirius, whom she had never once liked in her life.

It was definitely going to be an interesting year.


	4. Unhappiness

**Here ya'll go! This is just a little fluff, but bear with me because there's some juicy stuff coming up with Sirius/Lily/James/Vanessa. Reviews are appreciated  
**

"Oh my gosh, have you seen Helen's chest this year?" Vanessa gossiped as her and James sat alone, as usual, at the lunch table. It had been two weeks at Hogwarts, and the seating arrangements at the feast hadn't changed a bit.

"Was I supposed to?" James replied dryly. "Most girlfriends don't want their boyfriends looking at other girls chests."

"I mean her chest size compared to what she was last year," Vanessa replied impatiently. "Duh. She's at least two sizes larger; it's official. She's stuffing."

"Who cares?" James said, shrugging as he tried not to watch Lily and Sirius walk by to meet Alice, Mary, Remus and Peter in their usual spots. So far he had barely talked to Lily, and not at all to Sirius. The only times the two Heads conversed were when they had to discuss Prefect schedules and such, and even then Lily did most the work. They also did their very best to avoid each other, and were so far very successful.

"And have you seen that Mary McDonald's hair?" Vanessa continued, tucking her feet under her and leaning into James. He found this quite annoying because he couldn't properly eat.

"What about her?" he said defensively.

"Her _hair_. It's hideous."

"I think she looks fine," James snapped, turning back to his lunch. "Besides, you know Mary and I are close friends-."

"-were close friends-."

"-why do you have to say that stuff about her around me?"

"Oh, some trouble in paradise?" Sirius barked dryly from behind them. They both whipped around to glare at him.

"What do you want, Black?" Vanessa snapped.

"You pigs are hogging all the mashed potatoes," he replied, nodding at the huge bowl sitting in front of them.

"Then take it and go away."

"Just so the rest of the Great Hall can listen to you guys fight?" he challenged, all the while watching James who just sat there as he and Vanessa quarreled.

"We don't fight. Do we, James?" she said in her high-pitched voice, linking arms with her boyfriend. "We're perfectly in love."

"Seriously, I feel bad for you Potter. I guess too many Bludgers to the head makes you lose it."

"Shut up," James replied lamely, looking over to see Lily watching the three of them, frowning. He stood up to leave. He all of the sudden wasn't hungry anymore.

"Yeah James, let's go find a broom cupboard," Vanessa nodded, picking up her bag and handing it to James expectantly. Sirius watched in awe as James sighed and took it for her, letting her lead him out of the room.

"Have fun snogging! I hope you don't wipe off more than her first five layers of make-up, because after that she gets damn right frightening!"

"Did you really have to yell that for the entire hall to hear?" Lily chided while trying to muffle her laughter as her friend sat down next to her.

"Just you watch," Sirius said, helping himself to his newly acquired potatoes. "He's this close to cracking. And when he finally realizes how much of a bitch she is, and how he wants you Lily, it's going to be too late."

"Why is it going to be too late?" Mary asked. As much as she used to absolutely hate Sirius Black, in the past two weeks he had quite grown on her.

"Lily and I will be married by then," he shrugged simply. Everyone else at the table choked on their food, especially Lily.

"W-what?" she stuttered, gazing over at Sirius like he was crazy.

"Did I forget to mention that?" he said sweetly, batting his long eyelashes. "Honey?"

"Shut up," she laughed, standing up. "We're going to be late for Charms. You coming Remus?"

"Hmm? Yeah," he said, grabbing his book bag and following Lily and Sirius out of the Great Hall.

"So how is your transformation going to play out this year without James?" Lily whispered to the two boys.

Both of them stopped dead in their tracks, whipping around to stare at the red head. Of course, they had already known that Snape knew thanks to the accident two years ago that all of the Maurderer's had agreed to forget, but he had sworn not to tell anyone. Was it possible he had told Lily?

"How do you know?" Remus hissed, pulling Lily aside into an empty classroom so no one could overheard. Sirius followed, closing the door.

"I'm not stupid, Remus," Lily shrugged. "You've been my friend for years. Plus we've had Prefect patrol together and I do extra research on everything in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Astronomy. I can do the math."

"You haven't….you haven't told anyone, have you?" Remus said hesitantly, prepared for the worst.

That was not what he got. What he got was a punch in the arm followed by a huge hug. "Of course not! Who do you think I am? Trust me, your secret's safe with me."

"How long have you known?" Sirius asked.

"Two years."

"Two years?"

"You act like it's the end of the world, Remus," she giggled, nudging her friend.

"It could be the end of my world," he said, looking exceptionally pale.

"But what I never figured out was how Sirius, Potter and Peter went along with you?" she said, looking hopefully at the two boys. "I spent sleepless nights wondering why none of you came back dead."

"Sorry to always dash your hopes," Sirius laughed as Remus shivered at her comment. "And by the way, we're not going to tell you our secret."

"Why not?" she whined as they exited the classroom and hustling to Charms. They were for sure going to be late.

"Even though we're not friends anymore, we still have to honor the Maurder code," Sirius said sincerely. "And we all agreed that if anyone ever told you about it, it would be James."

"Are you guys ever going to make up?" she sighed as they entered the classroom.

Sirius looked back at her sadly. "I don't know Lils."

For the first time in her life, Lily passed notes during class. And Sirius replied back, definitely an expert on the task of hiding it from the new teacher, Professor Flitwick, even though he was a total push over.

L- I honestly think you and James should make up.

S- Since when is he 'James'

L- Since he's made you so unhappy

S- I'm not unhappy

L- Don't try to lie to me, I know you better than you think. You've hardly pulled any pranks

S- I've matured a lot

L- As if

S- If you super- duper- upper-uber want me to, I can nod at him in the hallway and ask him about how we're going to help Moony. But I'm not going to be best mates with him anytime soon

L- That's all I ask. And thanks for that huge clue

S- Shit. What clue?

L- Moony. You call Remus 'Moony' because of his full moon issue. Now I just have to figure out why Prongs, Padfoot and Wormtail

S- You sound like James. He called it the 'furry little problem'. And aren't you clever, tricking old Sirius

L- Yep, I'm just another Sherlock Holmes

S- Who?

L- Never mind. I think we should stop because Potter just told me to stop passing notes to my boyfriend

S- Ooh he's jealous, let's keep going

L- As if James Potter could get jealous, he just moves on to the next girl. And I'm stopping because Potter threatened to give me detention. Damn his stupid Head Boy-ship

S- Trust me, Lils. There's a lot more going on in James Potter's head than you think

Lily didn't know why, but Sirius's last comment unsettled her. She didn't know why, and she tried to forget but she found herself wondering about it late that night. Little did she know that her dorm mate was thinking about her as well.


	5. Life's a Joke So Laugh While You Can

**Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! I promise I'll be better Please review!**

"I don't believe him," Lily said to herself, shaking her head. It was two weeks before Halloween, and Lily and James had scheduled an emergency Prefects meeting do they could discuss the upcoming Hogsmead trip, which they wanted to happen before Halloween. Lily had painstakingly scheduled the meeting around James's Quidditch practices, which were nearly every minute they weren't in class due to the fact that the first game of the season was quickly approaching. And now it was ten o'clock at night, fifteen minutes after the meeting had ended and Lily had just finished cleaning up.

"He _promised_," she sighed as she exited the room. It was a good ten minute walk to her and James's dorm room, and it was far enough into October that it was getting kind of cold outside. Shivering, she walked alone to her dorm. She was just about there when she heard quick footsteps behind her.

"LILY! Wait!"

"Go away Potter."

"Just listen to me for a second," he said, grabbing her upper arm and spinning her toward him.

"No way-."

"Listen-."

"No!"

"Lily, please," he begged, his hazel eyes wide. And this time, she didn't respond. Because there was something different about him now, but she couldn't quite place what it was…

"I'm sorry I missed the meeting," he said, his words ringing in sincerity. "I was busy-."

"It's a full moon out tonight," Lily whispered, staring at James's chest. She didn't think she could keep calm if she looked into his eyes.

He gazed down at her warily. "You know about that?"

"Of course," she shrugged. "Were you helping Remus get ready?"

She looked up just in time to see his eyes narrow in anger. "Don't you think I've tried? Sirius won't even look at me much less reason with me!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" she demanded. "All you have to do is drop by the Infirmary and say 'be safe' or something. I know Sirius, he wouldn't object like that."

It took him a minute to respond. "Oh. Yeah. Okay, well I did then."

"Then where were you?" she demanded. "Because seeing Remus is the only excuse I will expect."

"I can't tell you," he mumbled, looking down at his feet.

"Let me guess. Vanessa."

"Sure."

"Well weren't you just with her?"

"I told you, I can't tell you!"

"Well then tell me this," she said simply. "Are you mature and responsible enough to handle your Head Boy duties? Or should I ask Dumbledore if we can find someone else up for the task?"

"From now on, I'll shape up," he said sincerely, so sincerely she almost believed him.

"I'll give you one more chance, Potter," Lily sighed, brushing off his arm that was still on her arm. "That's it. But from now on, you do your work and attend meetings. Got that?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"Well then, let's go back to our dorm."

And with that they both headed back to the dorm room in silence.

"I swear he's mental," Sirius said the next day. It was 11 o'clock, and Lily had been up for three hours whereas she had just managed to drag Sirius out of bed half-an hour ago. In those thirty minutes she managed to comment on how pale, tired and dirty he looked, went to breakfast and she told him about her conversation with James.

"I'm starting to think you're right," she said, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"Starting?" he laughed. "I thought you've hated him for your entire Hogwarts career!"

"I never hated him," she mumbled under her breath. Unfortunately, he heard.

"Hmm," he said. "Well it sure sounded like that. Speaking of careers, what do you wanna do after you get out of this place?"

"I'm not really sure," she said, biting her lip in disgust as Sirius continued to shove food into his mouth. "I've always wanted to be a teacher, but now I'm leaning towards being an Auror but I'm still not sure."

"Why not?" he asked through the food.

"I don't really want to make fighting bad people my career," she said. "But seeing as all this Voldemort stuff is going on, I really want to do something to bring him down."

"Hmm," he said again, contemplating what she just said. "Lils, there's something-."

"Hey guys," Mary grinned as her, Alice and Peter sat down beside them. "Where's Remus?"

"He's tired," Sirius replied calmly, digging into his food again.

"Did you chew Potter out for not attending the meeting last night?" Mary asked Lily. Mary had replaced Lily as the seventh year Gryffindor prefect since she was now Head Girl. "And don't worry, I gave Peter all my notes from the meeting to give to Remus because he missed."

"Thanks," Lily mumbled. "And no, I didn't really yell at him much. We just sort of…had a little talk, that's all." Mary stopped questioning her due to the finality in her voice.

"Did you hear about that family that was killed yesterday?" Peter asked suddenly. They all turned to look at the blushing boy.

"Yeah," Alice nodded slowly. "The Jacksons."

All of them turned their attention from Peter to Sirius, who was currently doubled over laughing.

"Sirius stop, everyone's watching us," Lily hissed as half the Slytherin table was glaring over at him.

"Let them," he chuckled, sitting up straight.

"Do you mind telling us what was so funny?" Mary demanded, frowning.

He winked at her before answering. "They were murdered because the oldest son, Xavier, is an Auror and threw one of my dear cousins in Azkaban."

"So how is it funny he and his family are dead?" Lily said warily.

"The funny part is that my cousin who they threw in Azkaban, Trey, was actually a spy for the Ministry on Voldemort and told us some of Voldemort's nastiest secrets. Xavier framed him and put him in Azkaban so he couldn't spy on Voldemort anymore, but Trey was thought of as very high up in the Death Eater ranks. They thought Xavier was the spy so they killed him. I wonder how hard Voldemort will be kicking himself when he finds out."

"Those people are messed up," Alice said after a long silence after he finished his story. "It's hard to believe that stuff like that is happening right now."

"Yeah," Peter laughed awkwardly. "Crazy. But ironic and funny at the same time."

"Life's a big joke," Sirius shrugged. "You just gotta laugh while you can."


	6. Let's All Talk

**Sorry about the long update! To make up for it, this is a good one Enjoy and review!**

It was three days later, and Lily had just gotten down to Professor Slughorn's office for their weekly chat. When she arrived, he graciously welcomed her in and gave her the comfiest chair, offering her sweets.

"No thank you Professor," she said, shaking her head. "I just got done with dinner not too long ago."

"It's quite alright," he grinned, beaming down at his star pupil. "So how is your Head Girl ship going? We haven't been able to talk much with all your responsibilities."

"Oh it's…fine," she said hesitantly.

"Let me guess," Slughorn chuckled. "It's Potter."

"You know me so well," she said bitterly. "I swear, I've been trying to get along with him, or at least put up with him, but he keeps letting me down. I don't know what to do. These are hard times, especially for people like me, and I really want to show people how much Muggleborns really do matter to society!"

"Of course you want that," the professor said softly, patting the upset girl's hand. "Lily, you are the most passionate and kind person I have ever met. Alas, it is a shame that you must worry so much to prove yourself as well as worry about your safety, but you're still just a student. Out in the real world, there are far worse obstacles to go through than a simple uncooperative hormonal teenage boy."

"You knew Vanessa was the reason?" she said while all the words he said sank in.

Slughorn chortled. "Throughout my life, especially during teaching, I have found that in teenage years, the most common reasons for actions are the opposite sex."

"You sound like Dumbledore," Lily laughed. It was odd; before she had ever personally and one-on-one talked to Slughorn she, like the other kids, thought he was rather thick and dim, the only emotions in his life being content and confused. However, as she got to know him she realized how actually wise and thoughtful he was.

"Why don't you help other students the way you help me?" Lily wondered aloud. "Or simply talk to them like you do me?"

He just gazed at her sadly. "Like I said, these are hard times and you never know who to trust. Just take one look at how many people are after Dumbledore, and how many after me? I already have enough of You-Know-Who's followers knocking on my door and I can't imagine how many more I'd have if they thought I knew half the stuff I do."

"I guess," Lily said, staring down at her hands, thinking about how complicated the world has become.

"Enough of the gloomy talk," Slughorn said after a few moments. "How are your parents?"

The two continued to talk lightly for another hour, before Lily excused herself and said she had an essay to work on.

"Alright," Slughorn said reluctantly. "Although you will continue to get busier, make sure you find time for your favorite professor!"

"I will," Lily assured him before she left.

When she was little, she loved walking through the dungeons, especially with Severus. They had reminded her of a medieval castle, and she and Severus (making sure no one was around first) would pretend she was the princess, and he a knight, and they would run around giggling and messing around.

But now that she was older, practically an adult, she knew what kinds of thinks perhaps lurked in the corners she wouldn't have thought twice about when she was eleven. At a rather quick a quite pace, she finally got out of the dungeons unscathed but rather frightened. She had half hoped that she would run into Sirius who seemed to pop up whenever she needed him (she would have to ask him later if there was a reason behind that) and walk her back.

She didn't see anyone on her way up to the seventh floor, which was where their dorms were located. However, just as she reached the top of the staircase she heard two voices that she immediately recognized. Before she could think too much about it, she flung herself to the right, hiding behind the edge of the thick red velvet curtain that hung over a window. The voices got closer so they were just a few feet away from her hiding place, and she found she could hear them very well.

She knew she shouldn't be listening in, but she had no choice. If she moved, they would know she was there and James would for sure give her detention seeing as it was after hours.

"I'm sick of lying to her!" she heard Sirius hiss. She guessed the 'her' was herself. Intrigued, she moved a little closer.

"You're not lying to her!" James whispered back. "You're just not telling her the truth."

"No- you're not telling me the truth. Don't act like I don't know the real reason why you're not talking to Lily!"

"You think I'm not aware of that?" Lily was surprised at how hurt and agonized James's voice was. But what they were talking about made no sense. "You think I don't know that the biggest secret of my life is kept only by the guy who could so easily ruin everything for me?"

"You've already ruined everything, Potter," Sirius snapped. Lily literally flinched because of the vehemence in his voice.

"You know why I can't talk to Lily-."

"But that doesn't mean you have to go around with Vanessa and who knows how many other girls!"

"Its better this way," James retorted. Her heart lurched as she heard footsteps coming closer to her. "It's safer for Lily."

"You don't give a damn about Lily's feelings," Sirius said, disgusted. "Because if you did, you wouldn't be whoring around with all those other girls. I don't know why, but something changed about her over the summer, and now she has feelings for you even if she doesn't know it yet. And all you're doing is hurting her."

It took a moment for James to respond. "It's better this way," he repeated.

As James walked away, Lily heard Sirius call out, "Better for her, or better for you?"

There was no reply other than the sound of fading footsteps and a sigh. She heard Sirius leave as well, but in the opposite direction.

Leaping out of her hiding spot behind the curtain, she headed a different way as the two boys had, toward her dorm. James, she guessed had gone to take a walk around the grounds and Sirius most likely was headed toward his beloved kitchens.

After making it up to her dorm, she collapsed on her king sized bed, sinking into the scarlet, down blanket. Slowly, she replayed the conversation in her head, over and over again. What had James meant, by Sirius knowing a secret that had to do with her, that could hurt James? Why had James seemed like he actually cared about Lily, as if her safety mattered? Most of all, did Sirius really mean what he said? About her liking James? He couldn't have….she didn't…

But as she began to think about it, she realized he was right about something. Something had changed about her over the summer. Perhaps, if James Potter had acted maturely and charmingly, she could have easily fallen for him. Maybe that was why she had been so paranoid about being Head Girl with him.

One thing was for sure though; James Potter never will again stand a chance with her.

**By the way, Slughorn and Lily's relationship is much like Harry and Dumbledore's minus all the secrets and stuff. They both put a lot of trust and faith in each other, and it is NOT in any way creepy or gross.**


	7. I Heard You Talking

**Just a little something for you guys, I'll have a much longer one posted ASAP. Hope you guys like what's comin **

"I heard your conversation with James last night," Lily burst out. She hadn't wanted to tell Sirius that she had heard, but the words they had exchanged were eating her alive.

Sirius gazed up at her from his Advanced Potions book, even though Lily knew there was actually a Quidditch magazine inside of it. Glancing around the library (Lily introduced it to him a few weeks ago) he motioned for her to sit down.

"How much did you hear?" he demanded in a hushed voice, staring at her intently and unusually serious.

"You guys were talking about how you were lying to me," she said in a small voice, looking down. "I heard it up until you guys left."

"Ugh!" Sirius growled, leaning back in his chair and throwing his hands to his head. "Lily!"

"I didn't do anything!" she said, getting upset. "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But now you have to answer my question: what was it about?"

He bit his lip, hesitantly. "I don't know if I'm the person to tell you…"

"Sirius Black!" she said loudly, causing Madame Pince to look over threateningly. "I am honestly offended. For someone who's one of my closest friends, you aren't really acting like one."

"I'm sorry," he said. "But honestly, I shouldn't tell you. After you hear it, you'd have wished James had been the one to spill it."

"Why would you lie to me?" she whispered, her large emerald eyes starting to sparkle with tears that nearly broke Sirius's heart.

"I'm not, I swear," he whispered back sincerely. "I never lied to you, I just…didn't tell you the whole truth. Believe me, please."

"Then what is the truth?"

"Ask James."

"Since when is he James and not Potter?"

"Hey," he smirked. "You called him James first."


	8. Just Do It

"Potter?" Lily said, trying to hide the fact that she was shaking.

It had taken her all day to work up the nerve to confront her co-Head about his last night conversation, but she had come to the conclusion that she couldn't wait any longer. She absolutely had to know what it was about.

"What would you like?" he asked, not bothering to look up from his work. He was sitting at his mahogany desk that was located in their Heads Dorm common area, and Lily was currently hovering behind his chair.

"What are you doing?" she asked curiously, gazing over his shoulder at a diagram.

"Going through Quidditch plays," he replied simply as he prodded figures on the parchment, making them move.

"Who's on the team again?" _Come on Lily, just ask him what it was about._

"I'm Chaser," he said. Lily detected a little impatience in his voice. "Along with Mary and Andy Johnson. Shake Wood is Keeper, Georgia and Greg Jones are the Beaters and Charlie Weasley is Seeker."

"The little second year?" Lily asked, somewhat concerned. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"He's bloody brilliant," he said, as if that made up for the kid getting hurt.

"I honestly have no clue how to play Quidditch," she admitted.

"I'll have to teach you sometime," he said, smiling slightly before turning back to his work. Her stomach did a weird flip when he did this, but she knew that this was the moment to say what she came here to say.

"Potter," she blurted out loudly as he turned back to his work. "There's something I need to talk to you about."

"Can it wait? I have a lot of work to do. The first game is only a few weeks away-."

"I-heard-you-and-Sirius-talking-last-night."

All of her words came out in a rush, but by the way James's back stiffened she knew he had understood every word.

"Oh," he said in a low, somewhat tired voice.

"Do you mind explaining?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

He sighed loudly before standing up, purposely not meeting her eye and walking over to sink into the couch. "There's nothing to explain."

"What do you mean?" she glared, marching over and standing over him.

"I mean it's none of your business!"

"How dare you! It was about me!"

"Just leave it alone, Evans," he said, standing up and trying to walk away.

"I will not," she replied stubbornly, grabbing his upper arm and spinning him around. She tried not to notice how large and hard his biceps were. "Now you tell me right now what that conversation was about."

"No," he glared.

Her face flushed with anger. "James Potter, you are the most conceited and selfish person I have ever met-."

She didn't get to finish her sentence. Because before she could even utter another word James had his hands in a death grip over her upper arms, his face only inches from hers.

"You can think whatever you want about me," he spat in a low, dangerous voice. Lily involuntarily shrunk away. "Call me anything you want, I couldn't care less. But don't _ever_ call me selfish."

"Why not?" she shot back, angry and bitter. Angry because he was able to scare her, and bitter because he had never, in any of their previous fights, had gotten this mad. "You won't tell me anything. You used to follow me around like a lost puppy and now even if I mention your name you bite my head off. Why do you hate me?" She knew her words were mean, but as she continued to speak her voice got smaller until it was almost a whisper. "What did I do, James, to make you hate me so much?"

She literally saw something break inside of James. His grip lessened and his eyes, once filled with anger and hatred were now replaced with anguish and guilt.

"Lily," he murmured, looking deeply into her eyes. "You didn't do a thing. It wasn't you, it was…"

"It's not you, it's me," she scoffed, trying to ignore the lump in her throat. "Really original."

"Sirius wasn't lying to you," he said slowly. She could tell by his face he was going through some sort of internal struggle. "I wouldn't let him tell you what was really going on because I didn't want to hurt you."

"I don't understand," she said, her brows furrowed in confusion.

He sighed, releasing her and sinking into the couch again. This time, she sat next to him. "I never really liked Vanessa," he admitted. "Sirius said that if I really wanted to get you to fall in love with me, I should go out with someone else. I wasn't going to listen to him, but…"

"But what?" Lily prompted softly.

"My parents are aurors," he continued. "Really powerful wizards, and are best friends with Dumbledore. Well, I guess that word got around to Voldemort that I had been causing some trouble in school even though it was just some harmless pranks. He thought that he saw potential in me so he…uh…paid me a visit this summer."

"He _what_?" Lily gasped, staring at the boy in front of her. For the first time, she wondered if she really ever knew James Potter.

"It wasn't a duel or anything," he said quickly. "He just said that I should consider joining his forces, blah blah blah. It actually wasn't that bad until I mentioned that I would rather die than support him-."

"_James_!" she screamed, horrified.

He looked over and gave her his famous smirk that he hadn't given her hardly at all this year. She found that she had kind of missed it.

"Anyways, so he threatened me when I said that. He said he would…" he trailed off, looking away from her while his face got redder.

"He would what?" she whispered, her breath coming out faster.

"He would kill the person I loved most. And that's when I decided to date Vanessa, so he would think I was over you."

"We never even dated," Lily scoffed. "Why would he just assume? I'm just a random girl…"

"You're not," he said, shaking his head. "He knew exactly how I felt about you. So I had to convince everyone, especially you, that I didn't love you anymore. I started dating Vanessa, even messing around with other girls to try to distract myself from you."

"James, I really don't need to know," she said, but before she could get up he grabbed her hands.

"Lily, I'm so sorry," he said, his eyes wide with emotion. "I am sorry for anything bad that has happened to you because of me. I am sorry for everything I've done to you, from pulling stupid pranks on you to this. I am sorry just…for everything."

"James," she whispered, blushing. "Don't blame yourself."

"I do," he said, leaning closer to her, his hands still holding hers. She noticed how their knees touched, and how when he leaned even more toward her she could see his very toned muscles even under his clothes contract. "I will always blame myself for everything bad that happens to you."

"Hey, where's Vanessa?" she murmured, completely mesmerized by his lips slowly moving closer to her.

"Vanessa who?" he muttered back.

She laughed nervously, wishing he would just kiss her already.

Wait. She wanted James Potter to kiss her?

What was wrong with her? She had to stop this.

But he was sweet…he has done so much for her…he was so close.

As their lips met, Lily knew exactly what people meant when they said they felt fireworks…


	9. What She Didn't Know, She Does Now

**Thank you for all your support! I know some of you may have been confused over Charlie Weasley being on the Quidditch team, and I know that according to his actual age he wasn't in school with Lily and James but I put him in there to have Lily and James seem more connected to Harry. I know it was a stupid idea of mine, but I like it so I'm leaving it sorry 'bout it! If you're honestly offended by it I'll change it, but again I think having Charlie be that close to James and later being close to Harry adds something to the whole Harry-James relationship or lack-of. Enjoy **

"Lily, I'm sorry," James said as she suddenly stood up, breaking the kiss. "Honestly, I don't know why-."

"Just shut up James," Lily chuckled, making him grin. "It's not that…"

"Then what is it?" he said, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. Her heart skipped a beat as his large hazel eyes gazed up at her. "Was it me? Was I bad? Because there have been many girls that have told me I was the best snog they've ever had. Not to say I have kissed a lot of girls…I guess I have…not as good as you-."

"Shut up," Lily repeated, rolling her eyes and sitting back down on the couch, laughing. He honestly was quite adorable; she wondered why she was just starting to notice that now. "You're babbling."

"I'm nervous," he shrugged, biting his lip as he looked over at her. "So why did you stop?"

She sighed before answering. "Vanessa."

He looked at her for a moment, the expression on his face blank and confused as if to say 'Vanessa? What are you talking about?' but after a second his face turned to panic.

"SHIT!" he yelled, standing up and adding in a few extra profanities as he kicked the coffee table in front of them. "Damn it!"

"James!" Lily exclaimed, standing up and grabbing his arm before he could hurt himself or anything else. "Just relax for a minute so we can sort this out."

"I can't believe I've cheated," he mumbled to know one in particular, his eyes looking around distractedly. "I swore I wouldn't cheat ever."

"But I thought you said you messed around with all those other girls?" Lily said, letting go of his arm. "I heard you and Sirius talking about it."

"Vanessa knew about them," he shrugged. "So those don't count."

"First of all," she said, her nose wrinkling in disgust. "They _do_ count. Second of all, what do you mean Vanessa _knew_?"

"She knew about them," he shrugged. "One day I finally got sick of her enough to say we were through, and then she said something like 'she's sorry she wasn't satisfying me enough' and 'just don't let me walk in on you and it'll be fine'. So I took that as a go-ahead."

Lily just stared at him in disgust for a moment, her nose wrinkling, before she exhaled sharply. "That's…repulsive."

"But she knew!" he said defiantly.

"She's your girlfriend!"

"Not anymore!"

"James Potter," Lily growled, glaring at the boy in front of her. "You haven't broken up with her yet!"

"But I'm going to, so come here!"

"I won't do anything with you until you talk to her!" Lily glared. "And after this conversation I'm tempted never to talk to you again."

James sighed before replying. "And why not?"

"You cheated on your girlfriend," she said, her voice much more quiet than before. "If…if we ever do go out or something, not saying that we will, but how will I know that you won't do the same to me?"

James just stared at her for a moment before pulling her towards him, his hands cupping her face. "Lily, I will never hurt you. Obviously, I'll do anything to protect you. Those girls that I messed around with…they were to distract myself with. I wasn't happy with Vanessa, but I knew that if I left her then Voldemort would figure out I still, erm, fancied you. So to keep me from breaking up with her I kept myself occupied…other ways."

"You claim this was all for me," Lily said slowly, gazing up into his eyes. They were so sincere that she couldn't help but believe him. "But what are we going to do now? Obviously we can't just keep ignoring each other like we have before after this. So all you've done would have been for nothing."

"No," he grinned. "You like me now, and you didn't before."

"Do not!" she said defiantly, her face glowing red.

"Do too," he chuckled, leaning his head down so his forehead was resting against hers. "So how about this: I break up with Vanessa."

"I think that was a given," Lily murmured, causing James to laugh again.

"Then you proclaim your undying love for me-."

"_James._"

"And then we can just start being actual friends from now on until we figure things out further. Besides, we do technically have until the end of the school year to decide."

"Sounds good," Lily nodded.

"So…" James smirked. "Wanna go to Hogsmead with Sirius and me? Remus has a date and Peter has detention so it can be just us three."

"I'll not answer that until you talk to Vanessa," she replied stubbornly.

"Fine," James sighed. "I'll go right now. But first-."

Just as he leaned down to have his lips touch hers again their portrait hole flew open to reveal not only Sirius but none other than Vanessa as well.

"James?" Sirius said slowly, gazing in horror between Lily, James and Vanessa.

James and Lily quickly stepped away from each other, Lily looking quite worried whereas James looked like he was going to be sick. Vanessa, on the other hand, looked like she was about to kill someone.

"I KNEW IT!" she screamed, making a go at Lily before Sirius, thanks to his Quidditch reflexes, grabbed the struggling girl to hold her back. "I knew she wasn't a saint like everyone claimed. And how DARE you try to steal MY boyfriend! He's been after you for YEARS and you never paid ANY attention to him before he started dating ME!"

"Vanessa, calm down for a second," James said, finally finding his voice as he looked back at Lily, panicked. "Lily has nothing to do with this, it was me-."

"She's just jealous of me!" she screeched. "She's mad because you finally discovered what a bitch she is and she's taking it out on me-."

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Sirius roared, letting go off Vanessa so she stumbled forward. All three of them all stared, alarmed at Sirius's outburst. "Vanessa, I have been waiting a long time to tell you four small words: You. Are. A. Bitch. That's right, a bitch. And now that I assume James isn't dating you anymore I can finally say them. You're conceded and worried too much about how you appear to people. James is meant to be with Lily and that's exactly what's going to happen so get your unnaturally skinny arse away from all of us or we're going to have issues."

James and Lily continued to stare dumbfounded at Sirius while Vanessa burst into tears, running away from the group.

"I, erm, better go find her," James said, running his hand through his hair before sighing (and avoiding Lily's eyes), running after Vanessa.

"I think I got through to her," Sirius nodded. Lily just stared at him, still shocked over the recent events.

"Yeah," she mumbled, staring after the place where James and his soon to-be ex-girlfriend just left.

"Well, 'night," he said, patting her on the shoulder while strutting away, whistling a random tune.

Lily walked in a daze back into her room, slowly closed the door and fell asleep in her uniform, thinking about James.


	10. Ugly Confrontations

So far, Lily hadn't seen either James or Vanessa. It was already lunch, and she hadn't seen them in any of her classes or breakfast. But as she walked into the Great Hall for lunch, she saw a group of girls from Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw gathered around a girl at the Gryffindor table.

"Lily," Mary huffed, running over to her friend with Alice right behind her. "We should go eat in the kitchens. Sirius showed me where it is!"

"Why not here?" Lily asked, confused as Alice grabbed her arm and tried to tow her towards the doors.

"It's way too crowded at the Gryffindor table, we won't have any room! Besides, we haven't had girl-time in a while, it's a good idea-." The rest of her sentence was cut off by a gasp from Mary and Lily as Severus Snape approached them, his hands in his pockets and his face dangerously solemn.

"Evans," he nodded, stopping in front of the three girls.

"Snape," she replied stiffly. They all stood there awkwardly until Snape finally spoke.

"Is it true Potter cheated on Vanessa with you?" he blurted.

Her two friends stared anxiously at Lily, waiting for her reaction. Lily just stood there, shocked for a few seconds before swallowing, took a deep breath and responded.

"Where did you hear that?"

"So it's true," he spat, his face quickly becoming contorted with rage and his hand with his wand whipping out of his pocket. "I swear, I'll kill him!"

"It's none of your concern!" Lily glared, unconscious of how quiet the hall got and that everyone was watching them, including the group of girls crowded around none other than Vanessa.

"It is too! I told you he was no good, and you fell for him!"

"Lily, let's go," Alice whispered, gazing warily around at all the bystanders, but Lily ignored her.

"Just because you told me to stay away from him doesn't mean I will," she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. "My life has nothing to do with you anymore."

"You still fell for him!" Snape said, his voice wavering with anger. "After all we've been through together, you still choose _him_. He tortured us Lily, for years! He called us names, pulled pranks, got us in trouble while he still looped around on his damn broomstick, messing up his hair to make himself look cool! I thought you were smart!"

James and his mates chose this time to walk through the hall doors only to stop and watch Lily and Snape's confrontation curiously, wondering what it was about. After catching the last of Snape's sentences, James was fairly sure he knew exactly what it was about.

"I am smart!" she retorted. "Smart enough to know the difference between harmless pranks and dark magic! Which apparently, you don't!"

"Are you calling me stupid?" he growled.

"I'm not calling you anything," she huffed. "I'm just saying before you start accusing me for spending my time with the wrong people, you might want to rethink your own company."

Everyone stared at the two young people in the middle of the hall. Even the teachers were silent, not even attempting to interrupt. After a brief moment, Snape muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" Lily said impatiently, tapping her foot on the ground for effect.

"At least I'm not James Potter's little whore!"

If it was possible for the hall to get even more silent, it did. It seemed like the whole world stopped spinning while all the people, particularly Lily, started to process what was just said.

"Lily, Lily I didn't mean-."

CRUNCH!

The entire hall filled with the sounds of breaking cartilage and Snape's screams.


	11. It's All Because of Snape

Author's Note: I am ssssssssoooooooooo sorry for the long wait. Hopefully this will make up for it

"That was bloody brilliant," Sirius commented as Lily finally emerged from Dumbledore's office. She only ended up with a week's worth of detentions for her actions as well as Snape.

"Thanks Sirius," she replied dryly, ignoring him and leading the way back to Gryffindor tower.

"I didn't know you could throw a punch," he continued on, completely oblivious to Lily's distress. "But I guess I also didn't know he could take one. With him being so greasy and all, I thought anything would just slide right off-."

"Where's James?" she interrupted, gazing over at him with worried eyes.

Sighing, Sirius answered reluctantly. "He needs time to figure things out. I don't even think he knows what happened today."

"I'm a terrible person," Lily muttered, hanging her head in shame as they continued on. Looking down at her watch she noticed the time and saw that she should be in Charms right now, but as of the current circumstances she couldn't care less. "I might have broken up Vanessa and James, I punched Snape-."

"Lils, just shut up," he laughed, grabbing her arm to spin her around to face him. "First of all, you actually broke Snape's nose which totally gains a lifetimes worth of my respect towards you. Second of all it was only a matter of time before Prongs and Vanessa broke up. He didn't like her to begin with and now that he knows you like him back then there's no way they were staying together. Speaking of," he said as she started walking again, trying to keep from blushing. "When did you start liking James anyways?"

"I don't really know," she murmured, staring down at her feet as she walked. "I used to think him really annoying and even though we didn't like him SEve- I mean, Snape and I would talk about him all the time. I guess he was sort of obsessed with you guys."

"It's hard to resist this, even for Snivelly" Sirius smirked, before his face grew serious and he motioned for her to continue. "Sorry, go on."

"I suppose that when I was friends with Snape he constantly told me how bad you guys were, and how I hated you guys," she said, her brows furrowing as she spoke. "All summer he would tell me horrible things about James and you, and then when school came back around I would like you even less than I had the end of the last term."

"But last summer you weren't friends with Snape," Sirius said, slowly putting the pieces together.

"Exactly," she nodded. "So he wasn't there to tell me terrible stories about you guys. So during the summer I sort of forgot all about you guys and when I came back this term and James was Head Boy, my feelings were completely different."

"Wait until James finds out the only thing keeping him from Lily Evans was Severus Snape," Sirius chuckled, imagining all the terrible things James would do to Lily's former friend.

"It wasn't just that," Lily snapped, though the ends of her lips were turned slightly upward. "Don't get me wrong, you two actually are arrogant and obnoxious; it's just that this year you're less so."

"Wow, thanks Evans," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as they approached the portrait hole. "So what are we going to do?" he asked her.

"About what?" she asked, perplexed.

"About school, duh," he chuckled, shaking his head so his wild curls flung backward. "It's not like we're going back to classes, so what are we going to do?"

"Let's run to the Heads Dorm so I can grab my cloak," she suggested.

"Well that's quite boring," he teased, shoving her lightly. "How about we race there? Pushing and tripping and other kinds of unsportsmanlike things are _encouraged_."

"You're on," she giggled, getting into a running position.

"On your mark," he began.

"Get set," she continued.

"GO!" they screamed together, and away they went.

Sirius had to admit, that girl was fast. At first, he thought he would totally annihilate her, but when he looked back the first time she was right there beside him. He felt bad about tripping a girl so he refrained himself from doing so. That is, until as they rounded a corner and she full out checked him into the corner of the wall, causing him to fall on his back.

"So you wanna play like that, Evans," he growled, getting up quickly and taking off after her. When Lily finally reached the Heads Dorm entrance, Sirius was only a few yards behind her.

"Gotcha!" he cried, grabbing her around her waist and taking her down to the ground. "You're a freakin' minx Evans!"

"Um, thanks?" she laughed, trying to catch her breath while grabbing at the stitch in her side. "Gosh, I'm tired.

"What exactly are you two doing?"

Sirius and Lily were immediately on their feet, both of them looking nervously at the person in front of them.

"We just raced here," Sirius explained to James, glancing over at Lily. "I totally beat her."

"Shut up!" she laughed, shoving him with her elbow. "How much did I beat you by, like ten yards?"

"That's because you pushed me into a wall-."

"Can I talk to you Lily?" James asked, biting his lower lip and avoiding both of their eye contact.

"S-sure," she stuttered, glancing nervously over at Sirius.

After standing there awkwardly for a second, Sirius faked a yawn. "Well, I better get to History of Magic. Don't want to miss the longest nap of the day. You know education these days, very good for your health!"

And with that he saluted both of them before running down the hallway making random noises as he went.

"He's one of a kind," Lily laughed, turning back to James.

"Come on," was all he said, turning around and heading back into the dorm. Sighing, Lily followed him.


	12. My Life's A Soap Opera

A/U

So sorry for the long time it took to update! I promise to do better, so meanwhile enjoy!

"So how are you and Vanessa?" Lily asked tentatively. James had leaded them into their common area, where a couch sat along with two chairs. Taking a seat in one of the chairs, he sunk into it and folded his arms over his chest. Lily hesitated before sitting on the couch, clasping her hands in front of her and playing with her fingers.

"I don't know," he shrugged, his voice showing little emotion. "She won't talk to me, and I don't really blame her."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice cracking a little. She didn't know why, but all of a sudden all she wanted to do was cry. "I shouldn't have kissed you, I-."

"No, I shouldn't have kissed _you_," he interrupted, his voice now harsh.

Tears welled up in Lily's eyes as she comprehended what he was saying.

"Then why don't you go back to your precious Vanessa-."

"It's not that Lily!" he cried, standing up and running his hands madly through his hair. "It has nothing to do with Vanessa, frankly I don't give a damn about her! My point is that I told myself I wouldn't get close to you so you would stay safe. You could go on with your life after Hogwarts, get married and have a long and happy life and only remember me as the annoying tosser who annoyed you to no end."

"You are not-," she tried to argue, but he kept going.

"It's not like I don't want to kiss you," he ranted, beginning to pace around the furniture. Lily followed him with her large, scared green eyes. "But Voldemort made it very clear that he couldn't care less who he hurt, if it got me to join him or to hurt me. He was so close to going after you, but I convinced him that you were just a prize a greedy teenager like me would want; that I don't have actual feelings for you."

"James-."

"But I do, Lily, I do and I want you so much it hurts! But I can't have you because you'll get hurt and I can't be selfish with you-."

His sentence was cut off when the red head crashed her lips to his.

Lily felt herself pouring every single emotion she's ever felt toward James Potter into this kiss. There was anger, annoyance, bitterness, jealousy that came first. But then there was appreciativeness, joy, humor, passion...

The kiss ended way too quickly for both of them, but James knew that before any of this continued they had to figure things out.

"Lily, I don't want to see you get hurt," he murmured, his arms snaked around her waist.

"James, I'm not made of glass," she muttered back, her hands that were currently around his neck beginning to trace circles on his upper back. "I can take care of myself."

"But Lily-."

"I'm going to be a target anyways," she reasoned. "I'm a muggleborn, and I intend to fight him. Being with you just takes the focus off of someone else and puts it on me."

"Lily-."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I want this James. I want to be with you, and I know you want to be with me."

"I don't like this," he mumbled, but she impatiently pressed two fingers to his lips.

"James," she said gazing into his hazel eyes. "In fourth year, you proposed to me. Do you remember? You said no matter what you had to do, you would make me your wife, and I would be the happiest girl in the world. Please James," she begged. "I know you want to keep me safe, and you have done more for me than I could ever repay you for. So please let me do the same to you. Let me make you happy."

"I won't be happy if you're dead," he shuddered through her fingers. Kissing them lightly, he brought his hands up to her cheeks, wiping away a few emotional tears that had escaped her eyes.

Before she could reply, she heard the common room door open. Practically flying apart, Lily turned away to hide her face as Sirius entered the room.

"Hey Prongs it's time to go….and I totally just interrupted something, didn't I?"

"Just a little," James replied sarcastically, throwing his friend an annoyed look before turning to Lily. "Lily?"

"Go ahead, James," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "I know you have to go run around with Moony tonight."

"I can stay-."

"No you can't," she replied stubbornly, still not facing him. "I'll just see you tomorrow."

"Alright," he said hesitantly. Stepping forward he gently squeezed her hand before exiting the room with Sirius.

That night Lily Evans feel asleep on their common room couch, dreaming of wolves, a rat, punching trees, and for some reason there was a deer...


	13. Vanessa Talks

When Lily woke up, she found that James had already left their dorm. Sighing, she took a quick shower and threw on her robes before making her way down to breakfast. Upon entering the Great Hall she found that none of the Marauders were there; however Vanessa sat by herself at the end of the table, staring somberly down into her meal.

Most girls would avoid their love interest's crazy ex-girlfriend, but Lily couldn't find herself able to. No matter how terrible Vanessa had been to her, she could plainly see a heartbroken girl who had found out her boyfriend had cheated on her. Being the compassionate and yet sometimes mental girl that she was (which James later claimed was very attractive) she held her head high as she sat down opposite Vanessa.

At first the other girl gave her a quick death glare before turning back to staring at her food. Then ever so slowly she looked back up and met those large green eyes that James Potter had fallen so deeply in love with and she couldn't help but let a tear roll down her cheek.

"You're much better than people give you credit for," Vanessa choked out, holding back tears. "Most people wouldn't be doing this."

"I'm not most people," Lily shrugged.

"You're right," she said, looking away. "You're better. No wonder why James is in love with you."

"Vanessa-."

"I knew he was, Evans, all along. I knew it and I just didn't want to admit it but he did. It's my fault that I ended up like this so don't even try to apologize. Besides, he already made it clear that he kissed you and not the other way around so you have nothing to be sorry for."

"I kissed him back though-."

"Of course you did!" Vanessa laughed. "Hell, I've kissed a lot of guys, more than I'd like to admit and James Potter's the best snog around. Besides, you like him."

"Please-."

"Well I think this conversation's been very productive," Vanessa interrupted, standing up and grabbing her bag from the table. "Nice talking to you. See you around Evan's!" And with that she walked away from the very much perplexed Lily.

"What the bloody hell were you talking to her about?" Sirius Black, who had just entered the Hall and had witnessed them speaking, asked.

"Nothing," Lily said, shaking her head. Her eyes immediately saw the gash peeping out from under his shirt. "Sirius!" she hissed, grabbing the neck of his shirt and pulling it down just enough to see how badly he was wounded.

"It's nothing," he mumbled, quickly covering it back up again.

"It is too something!" she shrieked, causing many people to turn and look at them. "You need to get that looked at! You need medical attention- wait, where's James?"

"Lily, it's-."

"Sirius, where's James?" she glared, her teeth clenching together.

He hesitated before answering. "He's- he's upstairs in his bed."

"Is he alright?" she said, closing her eyes and dreading the worst.

"He's…alive," he answered. "He's a little banged up but he's had worse. If I'm not worried about him you shouldn't be."

"Well I sure as hell am!" she glared, turning on her heel and stomping towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?" he called.

"To beat up my boyfriend!" she yelled back, loud enough for the whole Great Hall to hear.

Sirius chuckled as he took a seat. He didn't want to be around when James found out that Lily Evans had called James Potter her boyfriend in front of the entire school while he was still passed out in bed.


End file.
